Three honored for work promoting peace

By Perry Swanson
The Metropolitan

An attorney, a political science professor and a student in Metroâs education program, were praised for promoting peace Jan. 15 at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Breakfast on campus.

Metro student Teresa Harper, who also served on Metroâs student government, received an award for her work as an advocate for women, minorities and students with disabilities. Robert Hazan, a political science professor, earned the faculty and staff award. He works with a variety of Metro clubs and is the faculty advisor to student government.

Walter Echo-Hawk, an attorney at the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder, received the community award. He represents Native American groups in court cases on issues such as religious freedom and treaty rights.

The first peace breakfast was in 1992, inspired by a former Metro employee, Karen Thorpe.

That year, the honorees were Wilma Webb and Rodolfo ãCorkyä Gonzales.

This yearâs ceremony came not long after a few edgy weeks in November when racially motivated violence broke out in Denver. A self-proclaimed racist killed a Denver police officer, and a few days later, another killed an African man then shot a woman in the back who tried to help him, leaving her paralyzed.

The breakfast has often come on the heels of such tensions, but that only underlines the need to affirm the value of peace, said Yolanda Ortega-Ericksen, one of the events' organizers and the associate vice president of Student Services and dean of Student Life.

Harper credited support from staff at the Institute for Womenâs Studies and others at the college for her success as a peace activist.

ãThey were very encouraging to me,ä Harper said. ãThey had my back. I donât know what I would have done without them.ä

Harper worked last semester as vice president of Diversity for Metroâs Student Government Assembly.
She said she is leaving the position this spring to make time for student teaching.

One of Harperâs efforts as vice president of Diversity was her push for specific guidelines on the rights of students with disabilities.

Tolerance for a variety of opinions is key, Hazan said, but itâs also important to recognize when one point if view is morally right and another is ãdespicable.ä

Education, Hazan said, is key to diffusing attitudes that work against peace.

ãThere are a lot of people that do a lot of work that may qualify as a peace activist,ä he said. ãIâm honored that my work has been perceived that way. But as a teacher, perhaps we are all naturally engaged in peace.

ãTrue peace activism, to me, (is) where through education and through various other means, individuals are interested in bringing the best out of humanity.ä

To Echo-Hawk, a Native American and member of the Pawnee tribe, working for peace takes on yet another dimension.

ãI define peace in the same way that Martin Luther King defined it, not only as the absence of tension but also the presence of justice,ä Echo-Hawk said. ãAll Native (American) rights issues here in the U.S. at bottom are justice issues. I am working right now on behalf of Native inmate rights, for example, to practice their religion while incarcerated.ä

Echo-Hawk said he grew up on a Pawnee reservation in the Midwest and attended college at Oklahoma State University.

While he mentioned several achievements of Native Americans during his lifetime, he did not imply that the fight for peace and freedom is over.

ãFor Native people, as well as myself, my aspiration is the freedom to be different, the freedom to be native in my outlook, way of life and religion, and not to be assimilated by the government into the mainstream.ä